| Reviews / Comptes Rendus | Labour/Le Travail, 57

Reviews / Comptes Rendus

Anne Gray, Unsocial Europe: Social Protection or Flexploitation? (London: Pluto Press 2004)

IN UNSOCIAL EUROPE, Anne Gray investigates recent European trends towards labour market flexibility and work-for-welfare programs. The study critically analyses the interaction of benefits systems and changing forms of work and labour regulation in the context of globalization and European integration. Drawing on evidence from a number of cases, Gray argues that the EU and its member states have compromised the project of "Social Europe," as well as workers' rights and benefits more generally, by relying on neo-liberal policies that seek to mobilize low-cost labour and reduce wage pressure. The EU and OECD encourage member states to implement "active labour market policies" as a means of combating unemployment and labour market stagnation. These policies, however, contribute to the "flexploitation" of the labour force by driving down labour costs and reducing employment stability.

Gray relies on a seven-country comparative study to question whether active labour market policies can reduce unemployment, and if so, what the effect of these policies is on the unemployed. The book builds on evidence derived from the Minima Sociaux project, a Commission-sponsored initiative examining the experiences of unemployed workers and benefit recipients in the UK, Germany, France, and Belgium. Gray augments this research through secondary material from Denmark, Sweden, and Spain. This approach successfully broadens the scope of analysis and allows Gray to examine trends in and across traditional categories of European welfare regimes. Her research highlights that recent developments in welfare-to-work programs and labour market policies introduce new dimensions to Esping-Andersen's classification of European welfare states. While a degree of convergence towards workfarism across the various regimes is evident, differences in approaches continue to distinguish the various states within a single welfare state regime.

Unsocial Europe begins with a discussion of globalization and European integration as potential challenges to Keynesian traditions in the European welfare state. The author highlights that recent developments in European labour market policies are generally more concerned with the needs of business and capital than with the continuation of a Keynesian welfare system. In their attempt to combat rising unemployment, member state governments are increasingly relying on 'supply side' economics and a commitment to the mobilization of a flexible, skilled, and affordable workforce to promote employment growth, but fail to recognize the negative impact of these policies on job quality and employment conditions. This prompts active labour market policies and a quest for "social inclusion" through labour market participation. Yet social inclusion through labour market participation does not address the quality of jobs available. It is consequently becoming increasingly important that the European labour market policies address the quality as well as quantity of jobs.

Gray's analysis differs from many other studies of labour market flexibility through her reliance on "front line evidence." Gray introduces compelling evidence from unemployed workers and benefit recipients to show active labour market policies disempower the job seeker and frequently perpetuate poverty and the benefits trap. The book thus adds a human face to the bureaucratic language of labour market flexibility. By granting a voice to unemployed workers, Gray introduces a fundamentally new perspective to the debate on welfare, workfare, and social benefits.

Chapters 5 through 8 draw attention to the negative aspects of capital-oriented labour flexibility from the perspective of the unemployed. Following the European recession in the early 1980s, workfarist policies and a reduction in the rights of the unemployed challenged the ideal of "decommodification." Job seekers consequently saw a reduction in their autonomy and rights, including their right to reject unsuitable positions. Sanctions and an increase in compulsory programs and measures have re-commodified labour and reduced the bargaining power of the unemployed. The country-by-country analysis in Chapter 5 questions which benefits system can, in the current capitalist system, best empower the unemployed and offer them a degree of bargaining power against bad employers, highlighting similarities and differences in the gradual shift towards greater conditionality of benefits in the various systems. While a return to the decommodified ideals of earlier years would make the unemployed less vulnerable to bad employers, Gray maintains that these systems could not supply individuals with decent jobs. We must, she suggests, fix the jobs rather than the benefits system.

Chapters 6, 7, and 8 offer a more detailed discussion of specific factors in the relationship among labour market deregulation, "bad jobs," and active labour market measures. All three chapters draw extensively on interview material to highlight the manner in which temporary and low-quality jobs can perpetuate the problems of unemployment and create a divide between "good" and "bad" jobs. The primary problem, Gray suggests, is not a shortage of jobs per se, but a shortage of high quality jobs. In general, available jobs are low-paid, low-skilled temporary positions with little appeal for job seekers concerned with safety, working hours, job security and training possibilities. This problem can be perpetuated by temporary work agencies which argue that any job is better than no job.

In contrast to much of the conventional literature, Gray finds that low wages have only a minimal effect on unemployment levels. Active labour market policies make it easier for employers to hire and fire. Job creation incentives directed at the employer may encourage companies to replace full-time workers with several part-time or flexible positions, dramatically compromising job security and increasing the number of under-employed workers. Thus, labour market flexibility may in fact have a neutral effect on job creation. Moreover, the across-the-board drop in job security contributes to a series of other problems, including the reduction of the bargaining power of labour unions, increased reliance on benefits and social services for low-paid and part-time workers, and an increased polarization of incomes. Certainly, the European Union has attempted to avoid a "race to the bottom" which could result through the deregulation of the labour market. EU re-regulation however has been largely insufficient and ineffective.

The neo-liberal economic policies favoured by the EU and the OECD have led to policies to increase flexibility to the benefit of capital and at the expense of "Social Europe."Gray concludes that while the project of "Social Europe" could be revived it would require substantial changes to labour market policies. She describes the necessary re-thinking as "layers of change" or building blocks in which a re-organization of some aspects of labour market policy could gradually be expanding to include a more radical re-structuring and thus move beyond neo-liberal policy solutions. Gray recognizes that these changes, particularly the second and third stages, will be met with strong resistance from the agents of capitalism, yet maintains that it is essential to use the EU institutions and possibilities for social dialogue to overcome the dominance of the neo-liberal project and secure an upward harmonization of workers' rights and benefits.

Gray's analysis of benefits systems and rules from the perspective of the unemployed is a valuable addition to the debates on globalization, shifting welfare policies, and the nature of work. The focus on the experiences of the unemployed takes the comparative analysis into new territory and "humanizes" the discussion of employment policy. The book is of value to those interested in the evolution of social and labour policy at both national and European levels, as well as those studying the interplay between national and European level social policy. Overall, this is an interesting and well-written study.


Heather MacRae Carleton University

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